Photo Daily: Football Heroes on the Saone, Lyon

From the left...Platini, uh....help? (Edit: thanks to ursus and neeskens in the comments, the mystery is gradually being solved, though a full list is still missing).

Photo credit: bluerondo on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

13 Responses to "Photo Daily: Football Heroes on the Saone, Lyon"

Neeskens13 says:

February 4, 2010 at 3:03 pm

Second from left (next to Platini) might be Just Fontaine. Second from right (yellow shirt with red collar) looks like Didier Six.
Neeskens13 says:

February 4, 2010 at 3:08 pm

Are you sure they are all Frenchmen? Sixth from right (bushy moustache) looks like Roberto Rivelino and fifth from right (orange shirt) looks like my namesake (Johan!!!). Also, as a stretch, fifth from left (blue shirt) bears somewhat of a resemblance to Gordon Banks.
Tom Dunmore says:

February 4, 2010 at 3:13 pm

Hmm, you might just be right, Neeskens13. I can’t find any more information about it though, sadly.
ursus arctos says:

February 4, 2010 at 4:19 pm

Rivelino and Neeskens are definitely right. Garrincha is to the left of Rivelino; George Best is to the right of Neeskens, and Beckenbauer (not Six) is another two to the right. Fifth from the left could be Alain Giresse, but could also be Raymond Kopa or Jean Djorkaeff (who at least played for OL, unlike the others); the fellow to the right of that could be a much older Kopa. The guy on the far right might be Zibi Boniek (though that guess is highly influenced by the red tracksuit and moustache).

The relative absence of players with Lyonnais connections surprises me.
ursus arctos says:

February 4, 2010 at 4:39 pm

One more guess. Third from the left could be Larbi Ben Barek.
Neeskens13 says:

February 4, 2010 at 4:45 pm

Agreed re: George Best. Don’t think far right is Boniek, though.

Second from right might be a very young (and thinner!) Gerd Muller. He once had long, straight hair (recall 1970 World Cup and 1972 European Championship).

Could that be Marius Tresor to the left of Garrincha?
ursus arctos says:

February 4, 2010 at 4:58 pm

It could be a very young (and pre-facial hair) Mueller, but for some reason I have a recollection of a similar photo of Beckenbauer (which of course I can’t find now).

I thought about Tresor, but think that Ben Barek is more likely (he also looks an more aged Antoine Kombouare, but these go back in time, not forward).

I’m not at all sure about Boniek, either.

It’s an unusual group of players in any event.
ursus arctos says:

February 4, 2010 at 5:00 pm

Sorry, just realised you were proposing a different photo for Tresor.

I really have no idea who that is; there is some kind of oval light effect over the guy’s face.
Neeskens13 says:

February 4, 2010 at 8:17 pm

Instead of Tresor, that might be Teofilo Cubillas.
ursus arctos says:

February 5, 2010 at 12:33 pm

Yes, it definitely could be.

BTW, I’ve determined that the river in the photo is the Saone, not the Rhone (the heart of Vieux Lyon lies on an island between the two), and that the portraits were done in connection with Lyon’s hosting of matches in the 1998 World Cup (and are no longer in situ).

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any list of the featured players.
Tom Dunmore says:

February 5, 2010 at 12:39 pm

Huh, thanks Ursus! Someone should alert the photographer on Flickr who thinks he took a photo of the Rhone….
Neeskens13 says:

February 5, 2010 at 1:27 pm

Tom: This has the makings of a regular Pitch Invasion feature — Name the Footballer!!
ursus arctos says:

February 5, 2010 at 4:49 pm

I’m clearly spending too much time on this puzzle, but here’s a good photo of France’s 1958 World Cup team, which finished third after losing to Brazil in the semi-finals (along with the 1986 squad, France’s best World Cup performance at the time the portraits were done).

http://www.etab.ac-caen.fr/lebrun/histoire/img/Lerond1958.jpg

The players in the front row (left to right) are Wisnieski, Fontaine, Kopa, Piantoni and Vincent.

Going back to the original photo, I’d now say that the second from left is Jean Vincent and that Just Fontaine is third from the right. I still think that Raymond Kopa is sixth from the left.

And here’s a photo that helps one identify the location. The neo classical building in the centre is the Ancien Palais de Justice, which is largely hidden by the trees in the picture with the portraits.

http://www.terragalleria.com/europe/france/lyon/picture.fran41678.html

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